Prof. Dr. Ingrid Kögel-Knabner (TUM)

Soil is an important production factor in agriculture and is under strong pressure. We have the ability to affect the various soil functions such as storage, filtering, habitat and the impact of soil on climate change. At my institution, we study soil organic matter using the most advanced methodologies. In doing so, we generate excellent data as a basis for further studies of, for example, the role of soil in the global carbon cycle. Research that relates to large scales is impossible for us to perform with our own data in isolation. We are more and more dependent on data from other institutions with which we cooperate. Especially in soil science, there is still some backlog in terms of providing and reusing research data.
With the BonaRes Repository, things have improved in recent years and we have a good infrastructure through which we can publish our data and thus make them available to the scientific community, but this possibility is still used by too few scientists. FAIRagro offers a unique opportunity to a) make data publication in repositories even more user-friendly; b) find data that lie dormant in other repositories; and c) further increase awareness and willingness to publish research data among the soil science community.